I can tell you I am not sad to be looking at the end of January. Although it has been warm(ish) it has also been grey and cloudy and dreary. We graphed only 2 sunny days this month. Some sunshine and vitamin D will go a long ways to raising everyone's spirits.

Tarynne shared a cool bed time light, Kaden showed us a truck and trailer, Jude had some Angry Bird stuffies and Nessaya showed us her Box of Mermaid Treasures.

Skating permission slips went home on Tuesday and are due back next Tuesday. Please put your child's name on the bottom of the form and include $6 for the bus fee. The form and $ is for all 3 of our trips- Feb. 6, Feb. 20 and Mar. 6. Helmets are mandatory. Some skates will be available but are not guaranteed.

A lot of toys have been coming to class recently. Please be aware there is always the possibility of things getting broken, lost or stolen if brought from home.

Nessaya and Trey were our Unplug and Play winners. Congrats!

I have not been good about sending Take Home books this month as I have been doing assessments during that time. Look for TH books next week (other than library day).

We had a great time at the Big Little Science Centre this morning. We spent 45 minutes in the hands-on rooms playing with all the displays and then we spent another 45 minutes in the demonstration lab learning about water surface tension with Mr. Gord Stewart. During drop-in times (Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 - 4:00) the hands-on rooms are open for visitors to tour at their leisure. The rooms have approximately 140 stations of hands-on activities to try. BLSC also has an activity or show running Saturdays. The admission fees are reasonable and they even do birthday parties! We can't wait to go again and hope to plan another visit in the spring.

January is a good month to learn about winter, animals in winter, snow and snowmen. As we were building the snowman in the school field a few weeks ago, the children had some interesting questions and suppositions about how snow is made. So we looked into the water cycle. We read some books, watched a few videos, looked at pictures of real snowflakes, did an experiment, learned to fold and cut paper into snowflakes, talked about symmetry and we are 'growing' our own snowflake on the science table. The activity they keep coming back to is folding and cutting snowflakes. They have yet to tire of it and often ask to do it for free choice time. And as it is a great way to develop fine motor and cutting skills, I am happy to provide the paper. Some of their great snowflakes have been put up on our windows.

Unfortunately I left my list of Friday housekeeping items on my desk and I am unable to return to the school tonight to get it and I can't remember what was on it. I will post the Friday housekeeping items tomorrow evening. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

Tomorrow is Bear Day. If your child does not have a bear they are welcome to bring a different stuffie.

There are class prizes for Unplug And Play week- just fill out the brochure sent last week and give it to me on Monday. We will make the prize draw on Tuesday.

There were many library books not returned this week. Please send library books on Thursday morning at the latest so your child can choose a new one.

There are a few permission slips for our trip to the Big Little Science Centre on Monday morning still not returned. Please get it to me as soon as possible as children are not allowed to leave the school grounds without written permission and will have to be left behind.

Tomorrow (Friday) is the school-wide book swap. If your child brings a book from home they are no longer reading they can exchange it for another one.

One of the perks of teaching Kindergarten is how unencumbered the children are by what others think of them. They do their own hair (or don't do it at all), pick out their own clothes (dots and plaids anyone?), eat their favourite foods (Nutella and celery sandwich sounds yummy), use their favourite colours and play with the toys they enjoy. They are not yet afraid to stand up for themselves or their friends in an unfair situation. They are developing and expressing their individual identities without fear. They seldom worry that their peers might think they are weird or choose to not play with them because of their self-expression. But soon, maybe already, they will start to listen to the things their peers and the larger world around them are saying. Until that happens, I am going to enjoy the children's natural ability to live “out there,” fully self-expressed.